During the Daoguang years, the Western world ushered in the first industrial revolution. At this time, Britain's national strength soared, and it began to search the world for colonies. For Westerners, there is no richest land in the world than China's fertile land.
In the first half of the nineteenth century, the British made a lot of money from the opium market. At this time, the Qing Dynasty, the main importer of opium, lost a lot of wealth. The British opium trade caused financial disorder in most parts of China, and at the same time, the people of the Qing Dynasty were plagued by drugs. The Daoguang Emperor witnessed the disaster brought by the British to the Qing Dynasty and in 1838 assigned Lin Zexu to the south to carry out a smoking campaign.
Lin Zexu (30 August 1785 – 22 November 1850), also spelled Yuanfu, also spelled Shaomu and Shi Lin, was a politician, thinker and poet of the Qing Dynasty, and a famous person in history of water management. Guan Zhiyipin, who served as the governor of Huguang, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, and the viceroy of Yungui, was twice appointed as the minister of Chincha; because of his advocacy of strictly prohibiting opium, he was known as a "national hero" in China. But like many great historical figures, Lin Zexu was a man, not a god, and thus inevitably bore class and historical limitations.
We know that since the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the status of Han Chen has always been very low. Lin Zexu was able to become a minister of Chincha as a Han Chinese, which was indeed a "great ceremony that has not been seen since the beginning of the country". In the face of this unique honor, Lord Lin was grateful and swore to the imperial court: "If the opium is not extinguished for a day, this minister will not return for a day, and he will always be in line with this matter." "However, the emperor looks up at you, does not mean that you have gained more right to speak, whether opium can be cut off, how to ban tobacco, Lin Zexu does not have any right to speak at all, it is still Daoguang who has the final say."
The historical event of Humen selling cigarettes made Lin Zexu shine brightly, and the Daoguang Emperor praised it in his edict. Lin Zexu didn't realize at all that Daoguang's attitude towards him would take a sharp turn for the worse after that. After all, Lin Zexu's vision is limited, although he is known as "the first person to open his eyes to the world in modern times", he can't figure out why a small country in Britain can shake the Qing Dynasty. In his understanding, Britain's land area and population are far less than the Qing Dynasty. It is obvious that Lin Zexu did not realize the explosive growth of British national power brought by the Industrial Revolution.
At this moment, the british were no longer well-equipped than the Qing Dynasty could crush by its numerical superiority. However, Lin Zexu still mistakenly believed that the opium trade carried out by British merchants was a private act and would not be protected by the British authorities, so the British would not provoke a war in the Qing Dynasty.
A series of ministers, including Lin Zexu, are unaware of the problem that the tobacco sales campaign has directly affected Britain's economic income, so it is impossible for the British authorities to tolerate such behavior. When the British dispatched the warships to the coast of Guangdong, Lin Zexu delivered the following letter to the imperial court: "Fucha Yingyi has recently come to the ship, equipped with more weapons, but still carries opium. ”
It can be seen that Lin Zexu has mistakenly judged a war as armed smuggling by the British.
Due to the extremely slow transmission speed of the station at that time, when Zhoushan was occupied for half a month, the recital was delivered to Daoguang's hands. It can be said that the delay of the fighter is entirely due to Lin Zexu's misjudgment of the battle situation. In other words, when the Opium War broke out, Lin Zexu had an unshirkable responsibility.
Therefore, it is no wonder that after the loss of Dinghai, Daoguang changed his attitude towards Lin Zexu and scolded in the song chapter: "Not only is there no reality in the end, but many waves are generated." Si Zhi Yu sheng indignant, see what words Ru uses to say to Yuanye! In the end, Lin Zexu, a loyal minister of the auxiliary state, actually became the culprit who caused the outbreak of war, whose fault was it?
When it was sent to Xinjiang, it coincided with the outbreak of flooding in the Yellow River. At the recommendation of his friend Wang Ding, Lin Zexu was arranged to make meritorious contributions to the Yellow River. After Lin Zexu came to the Yellow River, he devoted all his energy to the treatment of the flood, hoping that the emperor would remember his hard work for so many years and spare him his guilt.
What he did not expect was that after the completion of the Yellow River project, what awaited Lin Zexu was still a piece of paper with Ili. Perhaps because of these encounters, Lin Zexu in his later years became more cautious and forward-looking. At this time, he was cautious and cautious, and began to protect himself from "Mingzhe to protect himself" to avoid being insulted by the late festival.
From this historical data, we can see that Lin Zexu is a complete feudal old courtier, and what he abides by is still the same set in the official field of the feudal dynasty. All this is the work of feudal Confucianism. In this way, a ZTE minister who was not afraid of difficulties and obstacles in the hearts of future generations and advocated reform was like a changed person after returning to the political arena.
In his later years, Lin Zexu put aside the great task of saving the country and the people, and single-mindedly focused his energy on counterinsurgency and banditry, becoming the core figure in consolidating centralized power. At this time, Lin Zexu was no different from those conservative Qing bureaucrats.
A few years ago, I saw the historian jiang Tingdian of the Republic of China once commented: "Although Lin Zexu later became the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu and the governor of Yungui, he always refused to openly advocate reform. He let the scholar who presided over the qing council sleep in a dream, and he made the country weaken day by day, and he refused to sacrifice his reputation to fight the people of the times. ”
At that time, the author also thought that this historian maliciously slandered the national hero, but after understanding these historical materials, I found that Jiang Tingdi's evaluation was so pertinent.
Resources:
["Lin Zexu", "Lin Zexu after the Opium War"]